'That year was a year where...' - Hardik Pandya revisits his horrific experiences during IPL 2024 as MI skipper

It was a season to forget for star India all-rounder Hardik Pandya during the Indian Premier League 2024 as a skipper for Mumbai Indians (MI). The year was a ride full of emotional ups and downs for him from getting booed in the entire IPL 2024 season followed by playing a crucial role in India’s T20 World Cup 2024 win in the Caribbean.

Recently, the star all-rounder was also a part of India’s Champion squad that lifted the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 title. He played a vital role in a couple of matches for India in the Champions Trophy 2025 to help his side win.

In the same line of events, Hardik Pandya finally broke his silence on his nightmarish experiences as MI skipper in IPL 2024, in which he took over the charges from the former skipper Rohit Sharma.

“It's always about when you don't leave the battlefield” – Hardik Pandya

The five-time IPL-winning skipper getting ignored from captaincy didn’t go down well with a lot of MI fans, especially the Rohit Sharma fans. It also happened to cost a lot for the newly appointed skipper, Hardik Pandya. Even at MI’s home ground, Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, the crowd booed him to the extent that former India batter and broadcaster Sanjay Manjrekar had to ask them to ‘behave’ at the time of the toss when things were on air on national television.

“It's always about when you don't leave the battlefield. For me, it was about surviving, maybe not winning. That year was a year where, for the longest time, I had to hold my ground, not leave the battlefield which was the ground. I realised how everything was panning out, that cricket will be my best friend, and he will get me out of it,” said Hardik Pandya on JioStar’s ‘Superstars’ series.

“Yeah, it kept, I kept pushing, kept pushing. And I think when all the hard work and everything came, I don't think I wouldn't be able to write a script, which it turned out to be in my life. Those six months of my phase where winning the World Cup and coming back and getting the kind of love we got. I think it was a complete 360-degree turnaround for me. And I think cricket was something which I knew that if I am persistent, if I am honest with my work, if I am hardworking, I think I'll be able to come out of this. But when I didn't know, as exactly said, it was written in the script by the God where it turned out to be two and a half months,” he added later.